Award Date
1-1-2003
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Biological Science
First Committee Member
Stanley D. Smith
Second Committee Member
Dale A. Devitt
Number of Pages
154
Abstract
This study assessed the potential of six plant species growing in the Mojave Desert, as sentinels of tritium contamination below earthen caps covering radioactive waste. The plants, grown in hydroponic tanks and 3 m columns, were evaluated for treatments representing three different levels of tritium contamination. Tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, replaces a hydrogen atom in a water molecule and readily migrates through soil. Plant roots coming into contact with soil moisture do not discriminate between tritiated water molecules and dihydrogen water molecules in the uptake process. Plants have the potential to be more effective monitors of radioactive waste-sites than mechanical sensors, because roots sample a larger soil volume. Tissue collection from plants to detect tritium can be completely aboveground, offers the option of transpiration capture or biomass analysis, and potentially exposes technicians to lower levels of radioactivity than encountered during installation and maintenance of in-ground mechanical sensors.
Keywords
Contamination; Native; Plants; Sentinels; Tritium
Controlled Subject
Ecology; Botany; Environmental sciences
File Format
File Size
4362.24 KB
Degree Grantor
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Language
English
Permissions
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Repository Citation
Grant, Colleen A, "Native plants as sentinels of tritium contamination" (2003). UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. 1595.
http://dx.doi.org/10.25669/3cad-ecad
Rights
IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
